Update posted April 18, 2008: The latest free database to go online is courtesy of ArtNexus.com-- over 1300 artists and 15000 results of works of art by Latin American artists sold at auction over the past sixteen years including Sotheby's and Christie's Latin American auction sales. Plus a special added bonus-- images. Curious? Visit the ArtNexus Latin American Free Art Price database.

Update posted June 7, 2007: A new free art price database is now online at www.artvalue.com. While it's a reasonable resource for general art value information, it provides only a portion of an artist's total auction selling price results, so be forwarned. Remember-- if you need serious accurate art values and you're not an experienced buyer or collector, consult an appraiser or other fine art professional before taking action. Remember-- determining art values is a profession, not a party game, not a hobby, not something you do in your spare time. In other news, www.findartinfo.com is no longer entirely free; you can view abbreviated auction results, but to see complete details on a lot, you now have to pay.

Update posted March 9, 2006: A new free art price database service is currently online at www.findartinfo.com. While it is an excellent resource for current art value information, it provides only the past several years of auction selling price results, so may yield a skewed impression of an artist's current market valuation. Remember-- if you have serious questions about art values and you're not an experienced buyer or collector, always consult an appraiser or other fine art professional before taking action.

(Note posted January 23, 2002, revised March 16, 2004: icollector.com has been purchased by eBay and, unfortunately, the free art price database no longer exists. For art appraisal or valuation, click the appraisal link above. If you're not experienced at valuing art, getting an appraisal is highly recommended-- the cost of a professional appraisal is often far less money than you stand to lose if you don't. To read about many of the best art price resources available on the market today, click the reviews link above. As soon as we find another worthwhile free database online, we'll let you know.)

(Note posted October 12, 2000: When this review first appeared in early 1999, the icollector.com database was much more current than it is now. Unfortunately, it has not been updated and only contains auction records through 1997. The price results you find may no longer be accurate indicators of current market value.)

Text of the original article including pointers on how to evaluate art price results:

I never thought I would see this service available absolutely free, but here it is--- an online searchable art price database containing 1.1 million art auction records of works of art by 100,000 artists sold between 1987 and 1997 at over 800 auction houses around the world. All you have to do is dial up the Interactive Collector homepage at www.icollector.com, click the "resources" link at the top of the homepage, then click on the "Art Price Guide" link in the "Browse Resources" box on the left of the page that appears, and you're ready to go.

First let me say that before Interactive Collector put their "Art Price Guide" online, this amount of sales data cost users anywhere from hundreds to low thousands of dollars to own or access depending on who they bought it from and what form they bought it in. Art price publishers like ADEC and Hislop as well as online fee-based art price data providers like Artfact, ADEC, and Artnet must be in absolute shock. All survive in large part on income generated from selling art auction price information.

Now that I'm done being publicly stunned, using the Interactive Collector "Art Price Guide" is easy. You type the last name of your artist into the blank below "Artist's Name" and click on "submit." If you want to narrow your search to a particular medium such as painting, print, or drawing (which I don't advise), you also check the relevant box or boxes before clicking "submit".

Each artist in the database with that last name will then appear on your screen along with the respective number of auction sales located. You next select your artist, click "View available works," and after a few seconds, all relevant results pop on your screen. These entries are viewable in a variety of formats including ascending or descending dates of sale, and ascending or descending dollar amounts. A more detailed search engine is also available if, for example, you're researching a specific title, date, auction sale, or criteria other than or in addition to an artist's name.

As always, here are some words of caution about how to interpret auction price data and what it tells you about the art you're researching. If you're not experienced at pricing art, consider any auction results you find as only rough approximations of what your art is worth. For example, some artists sell poorly at auction, but expensively at the retail level. Others have too few records to provide realistic overviews of their selling price structures. And remember that the most recent results in this database are from 1997-- already three years old. Serious researchers should always consider older as well as the most current results when evaluating any artist's selling prices.

Pay the most attention to results that most closely compare to your work of art in size, subject matter, medium, and other particulars. Although it's tempting, avoid concluding that your art is worth as much as the most expensive pieces you find in your searches. Numerous factors go into pricing a work of art. The Interactive Collector database results tell you little or nothing about quality, condition, specifics of sales, subject matters (other than titles), or other details that may have significantly influenced selling prices in one direction or another.